Such tires cause damage to road surfaces which depends on among other factors the structure of the road surface and the mode of operation of the vehicle. The problem has been the subject of various studies and it is now widely accepted that road damage due to the tire increases proportionately to at least the fourth power of the vehicle axle load and in order to minimize damage it is necessary to minimize the contact pressure at the tire/road interface by maximizing the contact area between them, commonly known as the `tire footprint`.
The world-wide trend in truck tire sales is now towards increased usage of the steel breaker radial tire rather than the older so-called `cross-ply` construction. The radial tire has been found to be more damaging than the cross-ply tire.